The Hardest Thing…

Many of you will be either having your Thanksgiving meal, or have already finished it by the time you receive this email…

Happy Thanksgiving! Our own Thanksgiving meal

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! We hope you all are taking full advantage of the blessing and opportunity you have to be with your family; whether it is a short drive, or a little hop on a plane or train, either way; if your work allows it, please enjoy your family! There are several people who cannot be with their family during this time… shift workers, people who have jobs that make it almost impossible to see their family because of the small allotted window or because of distance, and then there are those who are overseas; military and missionaries. As missionaries (all of our siblings are missionaries as well; on both sides) we understand that holidays are the hardest part of doing missions; being away from family, familiarity, and feelings of belonging. We say that because as missionaries we never feel like we “wholly” belong here in the jungle, always treated as “different”, and yes, we know we don’t belong in this world… but the joy of decorations, smiling faces of family, and nostalgia while you sit around the table makes your heart warm inside.

We have a lot of pineapples in our garden and we got to give them out to the people in the village! Just like the first Thanksgiving 🙂

For us, this is our third consecutive Thanksgiving being away from family, and in about a week or so the nearest ex-pats to us (about an hour away), will be phasing out and thus no one will be remotely near us (the closest ex-pats will be about 3 hours away), we thank God for the internet so that we can call and chat family; which lessens the separation. We say all of this to remind you to be thankful for what God has given you, even if your family is weird, you are uncomfortable with them, someone has a different political view, or someone brought the same dish as you did to the meal… it’s okay! Enjoy that time! Also, pray for the missionaries and military that you know who are away from family during this time… we are confident it is hard on them. As a family we focused on Revelations 7:12 as the key verse for our Thanksgiving, understanding that thanksgiving ought to be unto God for ever, with no reason or caveat attached, He is God and we must give thanksgiving unto Him without end. We love and appreciate you all!

Your feet to the Tiale people and the country of Vanuatu,

Seth and Nicole Stokes